The Death Boys
by dodreo
Summary: On an average night in Manhattan, Nico strides through the lamp-lit streets. Little does he know about two magicians who happened to take the night off for a date, and what adventures they had been through, as apposed to his journeys in the ancient lands. The story of a fate weaved with the thread of the Fates, disregarding the prophecy that ties the two death boys together.
1. Chapter 1

_**Thanks for taking your time to read. I SUCK at dramatic story intros, so, um, beware the villains with the Kpop names. I'm not kidding.**_

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It was late at night, and Nico was striding down the streets of Manhattan. He felt quite ignorant coming there owing to the fact that he simply had a dream the previous night, but he woke up that morning with a tugging sensation in his gut, so he shadow traveled from the entrance to the forest at camp straight to Williamsburg Bridge.

Nico was getting better at traveling through shadows. He didn't get quite as tiered as he used to, not to mention melt in to a black puddle of di Angelo. He'd also perfected his target landing, but this time it ended up a little unexpected.

As he materialized out of the shadows and took a moment to catch his breath, he realized with a second's notice that he was toppling over the side of the fence towards the water. If it wasn't for the nearest lamp post, Nico would've drowned in the murky river, point blank.

That part wasn't included in my dream, he thought irritably. He carefully climbed over the fence and set down the street towards a bunch of recycling crates which cast large shadows around them. Grumbling about the many other shadows he could have emerged out of, he looked over at the avenue.

It wasn't as busy as it would be at daytime, but many cars passed right by him and caused his dark hair to fly in his eyes. A couple larger vehicles released nasty smells and leaked gas, two things that Nico utterly hated about cars. He stayed as far as he could away from the edge.

The sidewalk was mainly clear, but a few people strolled around here and there. A couple walked right past Nico, not giving him or his sword a second glance. No doubt they were enjoying a romantic night together.

Nico seriously couldn't understand what caused the smell of exhaust to be romantic, but he let that go.

Trying to drown out the sound of the traffic, Nico hardly heard the familiar growling from behind him. He stopped abruptly and slowly turned around, making no sudden move. Sure enough, a large, black doglike creature with glowing red eyes stood a mere ten feet away from him. It looked like it was about to pounce, but it raised its head the moment Nico met its eyes, confused.

Nico raised his hand calmly. He knew that he had the ability to control most creatures of the underworld, including Hellhounds. He looked right in to the creature's eyes and did not flinch once it growled again, revealing deadly pointed teeth.

"I am the son of Hades," he said quietly. "Leave me and return to your native land."

Attack me and I'll pulverize you and sap your life force, he added without speaking.

The hellhound was probably in a slow mood that day, because it did not back away. Nico drew his black Stygian Iron sword and wondered if the monster would change its mind at the sight of it. Instead, the Hellhound jumped to attack, and Nico almost felt bad when he beheaded it. The Hellhound and its head dissolved in to two separate black puddles, both of which Nico's sword drained completely.

Wiping away the rare bead of sweat on his face, Nico sheathed his weapon and went on towards the large crates, oblivious to the uneven tiled pavement beneath his feet. Before he'd managed to make five steps away from the doggy puddle, he found himself sprawled on the pavement.

"So much for a dramatic entrance," he mumbled.

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 _ **You know what I need now? Reviews. They're food for my soul. I need them.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Thanks for the positive reviews, guys! You get an update for that.**_

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The crates were rather shapeless and cramped, but their shadow served well as a cover.

Behind them was a small and quiet piazza. Directly under the single lamp post at the other end stood a girl and a boy, their physical features clear in the yellow light.

The girl had blonde hair with red highlights and striking blue eyes. She wore a red tank top and a black sleeveless jacket with simple jeans.

She held the boy's hand tightly, laughing at something he said in a manner that the Aphrodite girls would not have approved of. She had a mischievous glint in her eyes and a sly smile that strongly reminded Nico of the kids from Hermes cabin. She looked his age, about fifteen.

Her boyfriend was smiling down at her, but there was something dark that Nico sensed about him. Well, besides the fact that he was wearing all black. His attire was a lot like Nico's pick of wardrobe, a leather jacket and dark jeans and shirt, fitted with black combat boots. His clothes resembled Nico's, but that's where the similarities ended.

He was tall and muscular, and had the build of a basketball player. He placed his coffee bean hand on the girl's shoulder and Nico noticed a ring or two glinting on his fingers.

He edged around one of the recycling crates to get nearer. Something about the boy felt very much familiar.

Nico realized he radiated death, emitting it to his surrounding in a subtle way that only a child of the Underworld would notice.

"Don't be ridiculous," the girl said, slapping the boy playfully. "They can all do with some divine words. They're all full of beans."

Nico noticed her British accent, but it hardly bothered him.

"You push too far," the boy noted cheerfully.

"Shut up, young man," she scolded him with equal cheerfulness. "You and jackal head are still my initiates."

Nico found her words strange. Alright, by what she was saying, she was her boyfriend's teacher. Sure, neat. She wanted to teach someone divine words, which Nico did not know a thing of.

The girl gripped the boy's shirt, smiling like the Stoll brothers before they ran a prank. "Come on, Death boy."

The boy groaned something about the name and Nico realized with a blow that the girl had addressed her boyfriend with Nico's common nickname. He crouched down and trod forward, and his boot stomped down on a fallen bottle from the crate, which made a loud cracking sound.

The girl and boy turned their heads to the crates, surprised from the sudden sound. Nico cursed under his breath in ancient Greek and sat down as quietly as he could against the giant crate. He hoped the shadows would cause him to be near invisible as they always did, but somehow he knew that the boy would sense his presence, just as Nico had sensed his.

The girl walked towards Nico's crate, but from where she held her gaze, he could tell she didn't know exactly where he was.

Thank the gods, Nico thought, breathing silently.

"Did you hear that?" She asked her boyfriend, which was a ridiculously obvious question. "Something's there."

The boy stood behind her protectively, looking right at Nico's head.

Nico didn't like being called a something and the boy's look made him feel uneasy. He tried his best not to meet his eyes.

The girl attempted to grab something in the air in front of her, and closed her fist around an invisible handle. A moment later she pulled a five foot tall staff out of thin air and held it up threateningly.

Nico curled up in the shadows. He had no desire to be discovered by a crazy girl with a magic staff.

The boy placed his hand on her shoulder. "Let me deal with this."

Uh oh, Nico thought.

His girlfriend looked slightly offended, but she stepped aside. The boy stood fifteen feet away from Nico when his form flickered momentarily. The guy in the other form wore the same clothes, but his skin was fairer and his eyes were a different shade of brown, his hair dark and disheveled. Nico's eyes widened and his sight became a little fuzzy. He looked almost exactly like him. The girl did not notice the change of forms and if she did, she didn't seem as bombshelled by it at all.

Back in basketball player form, the boy's hand started to glow with a grayish light. He raised one arm in front of him and the shadow Nico was hiding in brightened and became a not-so-dark-shadow.

Nico wasn't invisible anymore.

With no warning, he rose to his feet, quickly unsheathed his Stygian sword and held it out.

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 _ **Hope you enjoyed. And, um, if you have any sort of interest in Supernatural, I MUST KNOW NOW. SO PM ME IF SO.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Sorry about the wait. Takes a while to get a hang on a functional PC.**_

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Nico wasn't ready to back down just yet. He'd already decided that he'd follow through his visions to the end. He knew from his dream that he should arrive by a cluster of recycling crates. Even the red highlights girl was included in the scene flashes he had last night. Though he had a hard time remembering half of the future sights by the morning, he remembered her image clearly.

Well, at least he knew he was interrupting in the correct date.

While those thoughts passed in Nico's mind, the girl found his sudden movement and actual presence threatening. She quickly lit her staff with a white flame and shouted some sort of spell:

" _Ha-di_!"

Strange picture letters that Nico recognized as Egyptian Hieroglyphs blazed in the air between them:

 _[Ballpointed staff, snake, X]_

The ground under Nico erupted. He was flipped off his feet and crashed painfully against the crate. His black Stygian sword slipped out of his grip and skittered away, landing several feet away from his reach. He bit back a yelp and steadied his breathing, looking up at his attacker. She mirrored his feelings, her expression displaying part alarm, part fear.

Slowly, she edged towards Nico, the boy keeping her back. Nico glared at him, but his face was unreadable.

"A demon?" she turned to the boy, but she didn't dare look away from Nico. Her tone was casual, but terror still filled her eyes.

Her boyfriend stood over Nico, but Nico couldn't move. His back was on fire and the bones in his arm felt misplaced. Taking advantage of Nico's situation, the boy pressed his thumb against his forehead. He attempted to swat it away, but moving an inch caused pain to shoot up his arm.

His vision went black before he could yell.

Nico saw his identity presented in front of front of him in a magical and million-dimensional way he couldn't explain and didn't recognize:

There he was, Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades, ruler of ghosts and shadows, counselor of cabin thirteen.

He saw parts of his life. He saw his mother's warm smiling face. His sister Bianca with her green floppy hat. Percy protecting them from the thorn monster. Learning of his underworld abilities. Charging in to battle with his father Hades at his back. Days trapped in a bronze jar.

An arrow sank in to his sword arm...

A muscular man with white wings turned, his hair straight and black and his smile as harsh as truth.

The glint of red eyes shocked Nico back to the present.

"No," he said, his tone deadly. "That was unnecessary."

He no longer felt his pain from the crash. His sword flew to his hand. He raised it and struck it at the ground between the boy's feet and cracks appeared in the earth, spreading fast.

The boy staggered backwards. He eyed Nico with alarm as bony hands caught on to the sides of the widening cracks. Two skeletons armed and in Greek armor climbed out of the dark space that had opened in the earth.

Using his sword for balance, Nico pulled himself up and extracted the black blade from the ground.

The Greek skeletons held up their swords shakily and lurched forwards, but the boy raised his hands and the walking bone structures started melting, bone after bone.

Moments later, all that was left of Nico's bony warriors were two puddles of darkness and swords and weapons that clattered to the floor.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Sorry about the wait...**_

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"Calm down, son of Hades," the boy said soothingly.

Nico scowled at him. "What are... what did you-"

The boy looked rather amused. "Those are skeletons, easy targets for me. In fact, in a way I rule over them."

"Stupid Death boy magic," the girl summed up.

"They call me that too," Nico said quietly.

"Can't imagine why."

Nico turned to the boy with a dark expression. "I did not permit you to sneak around in my past."

"Couldn't take chances," he explained. "I simply took a peak at your Ren."

Nico frowned. "My what, now?

The girl smirked. "Your Ren, silly. It's the part of your soul that represents your name."

The girl's look suddenly turned strange and she touched her forehead, slowly turning to the boy.

"Wait a moment," she said, her tone suspicious. "Don't you need to know a person's secret name to do that?"

The boy chuckled. "If you know a person's secret name, you know what they feel about all the events." He looked at Nico. "Were you really turned in to corn by a farmer god?"

"Yes," Nico grumbled.

"A farmer god?" Sadie inquired. "But I can tell you're not a magician!"

The boy looked at Nico for his decision.

"You know about me, but I don't know anything about you," He said.

"Alright then." The boy cleared his throat. "My name is Walt and I'm a magician in the House of Life. I follow the path of Anubis, Egyptian god of funerals, so I'm pretty much an expert at death magic."

Nico sheathed his sword.

"My name's Nico, and I'm the son of Hades," he talked mainly to the girl. "I rule over ghosts and shadows and all creatures of the Underworld, my father's domain."

The girl raised her eyebrows. "You mean _the_ Hades? The original Greek god?"

"Well, of course-"

"Gods of Egypt," she said, wide-eyed. "You, like, know Percy and Annabeth? Do you go to the demon-god camp?

" _Demi_ -god camp," Nico growled, but he was surprised to hear the familiar names. "Yeah, I do. How do you know them?"

"We beat Setne and retrieved the crown of Ptolemy with their help!" She spoke rapidly. "Oh gods, I never bloody thought I'd meet another Greek hero."

"Your thoughts disappoint you," Nico noted.

"Sadie Kane," she said. "Magician in the House of Life. Follow the path of Isis. Emm-hm. Born in LA, Raised in London."

"I can tell," Nico said.

She made an irritated face, but it quickly turned in to guilt. "Uh, sorry about causing an explosion at your feet." She winced. "That crash must've hurt."

Glad she noticed that, Nico thought.

"I'm fine," he assured her and straightened his back. He regretted it immediately. It flared up again, as though someone had poured oil over a dying flame burning on his backbone. The cracks in the ground seemed on the verge of reopening.

Sadie placed her hand forth for Nico to take, but Nico shook his head. Looking a bit let-down, she withdrew it. She reached in to her jacket pocket.

"Drink this," she said, holding out a small, ceramic bottle. "It's a potion."

Nico stood still and stared at the vial.

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Would it help if I told you that Annabeth drank this potion?"

"No," Nico said, meaning it. He still had a sort of rivalry with Annabeth, but the worst of it he knew was long gone.

Despite that, he took the ceramic vial from her hand and drained it to the last drop. Instantly he felt better. The potion reminded him of Italian apple juice, his youth drink. It wasn't his favorite, but it was good enough. Nico felt rather stupid forgetting to bring with him a block or two of ambrosia.

Sadie gave Walt a small sideways look, but he urged her to turn away through his expression. Nico had a strange feeling they were hiding something.

"Anyhow," Walt cleared her throat. "What brings you to Manhattan?"

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 ** _Thanks for reading :D_** ** _Don't forget to review!_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**I salute all those who've been sticking with my story. I won't disappoint you.**_

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Nico didn't hesitate. He told them about his weird dream and all that he could remember from it. Walt listened intently and silently, while Sadie tried to jump in with a comment from time to time, but Walt hushed her down.

Whoa, Nico thought. He probably needs to do that quite a lot.

"Fate planned for us to meet," Sadie said finally.

"You don't mean _the_ fates?" Nico looked at her quizzically.

"What?" Sadie raised her eyebrows, looking slightly bewildered. "What fates?"

"Uh, the three fates," Nico said, his words turning in to a mumble at the sight of Sadie's harshly confused face. "Um, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos..."

Sadie laughed. "Gods of Egypt, no. I believe in fate, as in the reason anyone would win the lottery."

Nico slapped his forehead. Duh.

Sadie was grinning, shaking her head repeatedly.

"Let's just calm down," Walt said, looking slightly alarmed.

"You Greeks are crazy." Sadie managed to calm down slightly, but her grin was still spread wide on her face.

"You're British," Nico pointed out.

" 'Course I'm British," Sadie said, looking at him with hilarity. "Why else did you think the potion tasted like Ribena?"

"It didn't, actually," Nico said, an eyebrow raised. "Tasted like Ital- I mean, apple juice."

Nico thought it wise not to tell them about Italy. He had no desire to be questioned about his birthplace and family.

"Oh, gods of Egypt," Sadie said, scowling. "I thought I was getting better at making these." She threw the small jar and stepped on its broken pieces.

Walt gazed at Nico with an intrigued expression on his face, which made Nico very uncomfortable. He had a million questions for him, but he couldn't grasp the right moment to ask. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know.

Just then, Nico heard a faint but loud bang. He jumped and turned, looking for the source of noise. More bangs. As apposed to him, Sadie and Walt didn't look too surprised. Sadie looked even a little annoyed.

Nico looked at them. "What was that?"

Sadie sighed. "My call to get back. It's my turn to look after the house while Carter goes to sleep."

Nico didn't know who Carter was, but he didn't ask questions. He was actually kind of relieved.

"Well, that wasn't very long," she said to Nico. "Nice meeting you, Death Boy number two."

"Don't call me that!" Nico said irritably.

Sadie just chuckled and walked away. When she realized Walt wasn't following her, she turned and put her hands at her hips.

She raised her eyebrows. "Sticking around, are you?"

Walt was still gazing at Nico. "I'll catch up."

Sadie sighed again and raised her eyebrows, but she didn't protest. She walked off and over the plastic bottles from the overfilled crates. Soon, Nico couldn't see her anymore. Reluctantly, he turned back to Walt and met his eye.

"We're alone," the tall guy pointed out.

Nico pursed his lips. "Yeah."

His form changed again, and this time, the other form did not flicker off.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Aaaaand... I'm back! With a cliffhanger? Don't kill me.**_

Nico didn't know how to react to it this time. Walt seemed to read his mind. Or was he still Walt? It didn't seem quite right. And why did he have a horrible feeling they were being watched? He turned and studied the dark narrow alley behind him, but all he could see was plain old nighttime darkness.

"I know, and sorry I didn't explain sooner," the Nico copy of a boy said apologetically when Nico turned back to him.

"Uh." Nico hesitated. " _What_ are you? I mean, _who_ are you?"

Walt/whatever his name was smirked a little, which didn't help with the tension in the air. He was tapping the lamppost with his fingers, and wherever their movement seemed to leave a glowing gray trail.

He stopped tapping. "You may have heard of me. I'm the god Anubis."

Nico was sure his jaw had dropped to his waist. Oh, he knew who Anubis was. Funeral god who wore black and often had his head replaced with a jackal's? He was totally the kind of god Nico would've wanted to get to know.

Nico secretly admired him, even know he knew that Egyptian mythology wasn't real, unlike Greek. Or maybe that was wrong. The boy in front of him, not-Walt or whomever, claimed to be the Egyptian god of funerals.

"No way." That was all Nico managed to say.

He caught himself and closed his mouth. "How does that work? You're a god or a magician?

"Both." His calmness slightly annoyed Nico. "Walt, or me, and me, or Anubis, combined. Gods do that sometimes so that they could take action in the mortal world."

Nico arched his eyebrows. "That's... really confusing." This made Anubis smirk a little wider, nearly smile.

"And since Walt was anyways dying from a curse," he continued, "it worked out. And one thing is equal in our shared mind, that way we stick as one body no matter how much we disagree; we both love Sadie."

Nico shuddered. "That's Mrs. loud British girl, right?"

Anubis laughed. He brushed his black hair out of his face. "I just realized, we look nearly exactly the same."

"I saw it before," Nico said. "This form of you flickered momentarily."

"I hesitated. I could feel death around you. In the _duat_ and with my jackal senses. I thought maybe you were a creature from the land of the dead. My automatic reaction was to change form, just for a moment."

Nico shrugged. "I'm still really confused. Should I be bowing down to you or what?"

Anubis regarded him with his somewhat kind, warm brown eyes. "That's okay. You've got your own gods to worry about and worship."

"And your own enemies to face," a low voice said from a nook behind them. For the second time that night, Nico jumped. Anubis did too. They both turned and watched as a figure walked out of the darkness of the pitch black alleyway.

The guy who stepped out of the shadows was human. He was wearing torn dark punk clothes even harsher than Nico would think to wear. Nico strangely made out a white skeleton playing a guitar on the shirt. His black jeans were torn, most likely on purpose. His black leather jacket had a number of gleaming silver skull pins, seemingly pinned at random. He wore studded goth combat boots. All in all, the boy looked a little older than Walt. Seventeen-eighteen, maybe. He would've fitted right in to a club like Nico and Anubis, except that his expression was hostile and pretty evil. Just looking at his face, with the fierce expression and the frame of dark wild hair gave Nico the chills.

He looked at Nico as if he was a prize he'd been searching for intently for a while already.

"Son of Hades," he said, as if he'd recently laughed at a good joke. "I've finally found you."

 ** _It wasn't amazingly long... but more is soon to come. I blame my absence on Bleach, though. Thank you all for the R &F&F&R. Whoa there, acronyms._**


	7. Chapter 7

Nico stood there, unmoving. Was he scared? He could say that. He had no recollection of the guy in front of him at all and he was creeping him out, especially the way he kept his hand firmly gripping the handle of a dangerously sharp shiny black combat knife that was tucked under his belt. He knew the blade was made out of the death-sapping Iron from the Styx.

Finally, Nico returned to his senses and unsheathed his wicked Stygian iron sword. Anubis clasped his hands, which didn't seem very threatening, but the fact that he was a god and his palms were glowing ever greyer was enough to scare the goodness out of anyone.

Anubis narrowed his eyes and crossed his hands like a karate dude. So he went from a basketball player to a karateka.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The boy, who seemingly hadn't noticed Anubis before, winced at the sight of him.

"Egyptian god of funerals, huh?" His accent was unusual. Nico couldn't quite cut where it came from. The boy drew his long black knife. "Fate went too far."

Nico scowled and crossed his sword over. "What are you talking about? What do you want from me?"

The guy turned back to Nico and smirked darkly, which didn't help with Nico's freakish sensations. "My name is Kai, but that's hardly important. Di Angelo, you're coming with me."

Nico shuddered. He tightened his grip. "How is it that you know my name?"

"Long story." Kai waved the question aside. "Come quietly, and you may not need to join those two puddles of bones over there."

He gestured with his chin at the two black puddles. Nico eyed them for a few moments, then returned his gaze to punk boy Kai.

"Are you crazy? I'm never coming quietly with a punk like _you_."

He slashed his sword at Kai, but the boy was quick. He intercepted with his knife blade and Nico nearly fell off balance, pulled back by the momentum of his own sword.

"Don't mess with me, death boy," Kai warned him while he took a step back to breath. "I have backup."

Nico growled. "Death boy yourself. I have backup too."

Anubis took the cue to unfreeze. He shot a tendril of pure black through the air, and Kai hardly dodged it.

Kai laughed. "Is that all you've got, jackal head?"

"Not quite." Anubis got to his knees and touched the earth with the palm of his hand. The ground started making crackling noises, while Nico came at Kai with another slash of his blade. It didn't miss, but Kai managed to avoid the worst of the blow. His jacket split open at his arm and a gash was cut through his skin. He groaned and wrapped his hand around his arm, trying to stop the blood.

"You asked for it," he snarled, and pulled his hand away from his deep cut. He held out his knife and struck at Nico, but Nico managed to parry his attack. He struck again. Nico hardly managed to parry, roll to the side and intercept every time Kai tried to skewer him messily with the wickedest Stygian Iron knife ever to exist. Nico was already tiring when Anubis's attack came in to action. The ground under Kai's feet cracked up, and he needed to jump away quickly to avoid falling in to abyss. He had the reflexes of a demigod, and being on the verge of death made Kai's death scent finally distinct.

Kai looked at Anubis menacingly. "I need you out of this scene, little god."

Anubis glared at him. "Not if I could help it." Quite unexpectedly, he jumped at Kai and gripped his shoulders.

The next thing Nico knew, Kai was sprawled on the ground at the edge of the alleyway and Anubis wasn't there anymore. In his spot stood a tall African-American muscle boy.

Nico watched with surprise as Walt looked down at Kai, then fell to his knees, shaking.

"Walt!" Nico ran to his side and tried to help him up.

"Nico." Walt looked in Kai's direction alarmingly. Nico turned his head just in time to miss a blow in the skull from a flying black knife. Nico heard a window shatter overhead. Immediately, he pressed his sword against Kai's neck, who'd been struggling to get up. The moment he realized his life was at stake, he closed his eyes and pursed his lips.

Nico glared at him. "You tried to kill me again. Who's you godly parent anyway?"

Once he'd said it, though, Nico had a pretty good idea who, and he didn't like it.

Kai took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. He looked at Nico with pure hatred.

"Thanatos," he replied in hardly louder than a whisper, reassuring Nico's assumption.


End file.
